are you one of us?

stereotypes, defined as the generalized beliefs by which we make sense of the world around us, regardless of context or accuracy, is part of an attitudinal barrier to intercultural communication. as humans, we all have the tendency to stereotype others despite the accuracy or context. for instance, in this following video, a few examples of stereotypes have been portrayed.

the first character, which is named 'R-Dizzle' is a depiction of a stereotypical gangster. just like any other groups of people, they are assumed of certain characteristics such as being a somewhat mean and rebellious person, who likes to speak in a certain way that make them sound as if they are rapping. as you can see in the video, they way he introduced himself with words that rhyme with his name and also his hand gestures; kinesics which is used as a form of regulator to his verbal communication is also another characteristic of a gangster. furthermore, in his flashback, he was shown to be rebellion in a comedic way where he touched the big, green ball on display which has a note stuck on it, specifically telling people not to touch it. besides, when he found what others say to be funny and agreeable, he used "that's tight", which is like a jargon where only a group of gangsters would understand, to express his liking towards it.

moving on, the second character which is a girl named 'Regina' is portrayed to be a naive and not so intelligent girl who likes puppies and dislikes disgusting and dirty things. here, a girl has been stereotyped to be someone who likes cute, fluffy animals, hates filthy, revolting things and not to mention, likes wearing clothing that's sexy in order to show off their body. and she was shown to be a girl who's not very smart. case in point, in her flashback, she was holding up a lamp, saying that it is an umbrella. what's more, the way she moves her hands, when she talks is also another typical assumption of how a girl’s hand gestures and body movements would be like when she speaks; which is somewhat limp-wristed or feminine.

lastly, there's also the Japanese character, 'Hanate'. in this short video, he represented a typical Japanese to be someone whose English is not fluent. his pronunciation of English words was also enunciated with Japanese accent. for example, when he introduced himself to the rest of the group, he opened up a book to read from it, showing that he doesn't know his English that well. moreover, he pronounced his name as 'Boob' instead of 'Bob', and this resulted in an attitudinal barrier to intercultural communication with the rest of the group, who are not Japanese as they were unable to understand what he was saying. other than that, his given name was also one that a typically assumed Japanese name, which contains words like suzuki, teriyaki, sushi, honda civic and etc. although the way he pronounced his own name sounds like a real Japanese name, more often than not, Japanese names do not consist of such words. they are just assumptions people arrived, from the derivation of the names of Japanese products. finally, he is also portrayed to be a ninja. this again, is a stereotyped characteristic of a Japanese, because ninjas are often associated with Japanese.

so, after watching the video, and understanding more about it, do you think that the stereotypical aspects implied in the video is accurate? what is your idea of a gangster or ninja or even a girl? is it similar to the ones in the video? though, having said that, this is only a video for entertainment purposes where stereotypes are used as a form of comic effect.